Initiatives that enable millions of transactions daily and allow domestic and foreign tourists to plan and enjoy their vacations comfortably create a digital bridge between travel agencies, hotels, and guests.
The tourism sector, which boosts foreign exchange inflow and employment and thus revitalizes the national economy, also plays a significant role in the development of many other sectors. Turkey offers vacation and experience opportunities in various fields ranging from sea tourism to health tourism, from event organization to cultural tourism, steadily increasing its tourism goals. The services provided by entrepreneurs play a major role in attracting domestic and foreign tourists to choose Turkey for their vacations, plan their trips easily, and be satisfied. Qualified growth in tourism is shaped by entrepreneurs and the services they offer.
Founded by Nilüfer Durukal Kaya and Kemal Oral, Talya Bilişim has been developing technologies especially for the tourism sector since 2004, along with other software sectors. Today, the company has four offices in Antalya, Ankara, Istanbul, and London, and exports software abroad. The company offers Elektra Hotel, Elektra Pos Restaurant and Club Automation Systems, KİMLİKOKUR identity and passport reading system, iSAFE Internet Security and Logging System, and OPEX Operation Management System for tourism and accommodation sectors. The company has received TÜBİTAK grant support three times so far and continues to grow with 100% local capital and its own resources beyond this support.
ALL MODULES TO MANAGE A HOTEL
Durukal Kaya explains that one of the main advantages is being web-based and cloud-structured. "Thus, hotels save on infrastructure costs such as hardware, servers, and networks, and can even use the program from their mobile phones. So, it provides both cost advantage and saves time as there is no installation process. Another important advantage is that the program is comprehensive and has all the modules to manage a hotel... Thus, the hotel enjoys the convenience of dealing with a single company. Tourism businesses can easily manage their future strategies by following changing guest expectations and tourism trends."
"Being present on online sales channels is a must for every tourism facility, and in our opinion, creating and managing their own CRM data is equally important. Creating their own CRM data offers hotels the opportunity to easily plan every kind of marketing strategy oriented toward their brand. It is important that communication with the guest continues at every point—before arrival, during the stay, and after departure. At Elektraweb, we achieve this through mobile applications and contactless guest applications. Online surveys or orders placed via the system while on-site connect the hotel and guest at every point. For example, a guest can book a yacht tour through the hotel’s app while staying or make a reservation for the golf course via the mobile app. If there is a problem, the hotel is informed while the guest is still at the hotel," she says.
"WE WILL FOCUS ON HEALTH TOURISM"
Durukal Kaya states that they are working to make the Elektraweb brand, currently used in 25 countries, more widely used worldwide and lists their future goals as follows:
"We achieved 30% growth in foreign exchange terms in 2022. Elektraweb Hotel Program, entirely developed by Turkish engineers for the tourism sector, is used in 25 countries across 4 continents—Europe, Asia, America, and Africa—including leading tourism countries such as the UK, France, Italy, Spain, and Thailand. We reached over 5,000 hotels with more than 2,000 users on the web and 3,000 on desktop. We aim to reach 6,500 hotels by the end of this year. We plan to grow 40% in foreign exchange terms. This year, we are focusing more on our existing solutions for health tourism, which has become one of our country's important revenue sources. We completed our infrastructure a long time ago. Now, we are moving toward becoming a significant player in the market."
